Global Jurist of the Year

2015 GLOBAL JURIST OF THE YEAR

JUDGE GLORIA PATRICIA PORRAS ESCOBAR

Judge Gloria Patricia Porras Escobar

Northwestern University School of Law’s Center for International Human Rights (CIHR) has selected Judge Gloria Patricia Porras Escobar, Presidentof the Guatemalan Constitutional Court, to receive the 2015 Global Jurist of the Year Award.

The award will be presented at a dinner at the Law School on Tuesday, Jan. 26, at which Judge Porras will speak. She will also deliver an address to the student body at noon. For information about attending the dinner, please contact Professor Juliet Sorensen.

Judge Porras was elected to the Court in 2011. She has adjudicated some of the most crucial issues in Guatemala today, showing leadership and commitment to the rule of law in the face of adversity and considerable political pressure. For example, in May 2013, the case of former de-facto head of State General Efraín Rios Montt came to the Court on procedural grounds following his conviction for genocide and crimes against humanity. Judge Porras dissented in allowing the injunctive relief requested by Montt because the matter was not in the Court’s competence. The majority opinion effectively nullified the guilty verdict that had been issued against Rios Montt 10 days before.

In 2015, Judge Porras led the Court in a 3-2 vote to approve the removal of the Guatemalan President’s investigative immunity in the midst of a deepening corruption scandal, which already had resulted in the resignation of the vice president. This followed a decision by the Court to temporarily block the investigation in a 3-2 vote in which Porras was absent and replaced by an alternate. As a result of the investigation, the President of Guatemala resigned on Sept. 3 and was charged with bribery and related charges five days later. Last November, Judge Porras’ own colleague on the Court was arrested and charged by the U.S. in the FIFA international fraud case.

The Global Jurist of the Year Award is designed to honor a sitting judge, whether in an international or national court, who has demonstrated in his or her career courage in the face of adversity to uphold and defend fundamental human rights or the principles of international criminal justice. Jurists from all nations and tribunals are eligible for consideration.